Examining Gender Inequality in Sports and Society

For many years there has been inequality between men and women. Basketball, football, soccer, baseball, golf, sumo wrestling, motocross, mixed martial arts, rugby, hockey, auto racing, boxing, and the list goes on and on. By now most are thinking “Oh, it’s just a list of sports.” This is not just a list of sports. These are sports dominated by men. Then again, there are sports listed such as basketball and soccer that have women’s teams, but the men’s teams get the attention and praise that women do not. Forbes list, parenthood, relationships, politics, social events, etcetera. Forbes list’s richest one percent of the world has seventy-three men, but only seven women (Forbes 400, 2015). Society has praised men, who take care of their children, but expect women to take care of the children.

Fox news hosts tell women, “No matter where a woman was in life, she should always be able to cater to her man’s needs” (Gina Vaynshteyn, 3 Jan.

2015). In relationships, women fight to keep their man and not them both fighting equally for the relationship. Mount Rushmore has no women. All of our presidents are men. Men get invited to social events to watch the game, drink, play sports, and more. Women sometimes have the privilege of being dragged along. These are all examples of gender inequality. Women are generally labeled as weak and incapable; therefore, today’s society puts more effort and support into the work of men. As John W. Snow said, “You don’t fix the problem until you define it” (John W. Snow, 2015). In other words, the problem has to be known and understood in order to be fixed. Genesis 1 to Genesis 3 explains where the problem

began.
In Genesis 1, God creates man and woman. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” And God created humankind in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:26-27). Pay close attention. It is stated clearly that when God created male and female, he created them equal, in his image, to rule everything all over the Earth together. This equality, unfortunately, did not last (Lee Woofenden, 2013).
In Genesis 2, God creates humankind as well, also known as Adam. Reflecting back, each day in Genesis 1, God announced each creation of the day he considered good. Moreover, in Genesis 2, he announced his first thing he considered not good (Lee Woofenden, 2013). “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper for him as his partner.’” This helper, of course, turned out to be Eve, who was created out of a rib taken from Adam while he slept (Genesis 2:21–23). In Genesis 2, it is understood that God created woman to assist man because it was not good for the man to be alone. That being said, God’s plan is no longer for the man and woman to rule everything all over Earth together. The equality of man and woman is officially gone.
In Genesis 1, man and woman are created equal; In Genesis 2, woman as a helper and partner for the man; Now that Eve has disobeyed God by eating a fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God’s plan for man and woman has changed once more (Lee Woofenden, 2013). “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Now, in Genesis 3, not only is woman ruled by man, a woman’s desire is for her man as well. All because of Eve’s rebellion, man and woman are now in a state of inequality. It is in fact that the problem began in the distant past. Much has not changed since then. Today’s society view men and women are similar to Genesis 2 and 3.
Forbes list, lists the richest one percent of the world which includes a total of 80 people. Out of the wealthiest 80 people on planet Earth, only seven are females. That’s 8.75 percent females and 91.25 percent males. Why is there such a tremendous gap in wealthy males versus females? Genesis 2 states that woman is only the helper for the man and Genesis 3 states that woman is ruled by man. If God made this rule in the beginning, then it is interpreted that he did not give feminine women the abilities to do the work and succeed like masculine men. Today women work just as hard as men and to abolish the ancient rule. However, no matter if the female is equal to or better than a male in any area, because of the mindset of the past, males are more likely to be picked over females. For example, basketball is a sport played by males and females. It is not the fact that women do not excel in the sport. Society does not treat the women like they do men; therefore watching women’s sports is not as entertaining as watching men do the same exact thing. The media give viewers what they want. If society supported women’s sports as much as they do men’s sports they would receive more coverage and the games would be more interesting. “Men’s sports are going to seem more exciting,” Cheryl Cooky says. “They have higher production values, higher-quality coverage, and higher-quality commentary ... When you watch women’s sports, and there are fewer camera angles, fewer cuts to shot, fewer instant replays, yeah, it’s going to seem to be a slower game, and it’s going to seem to be less exciting” (Chris Bodenner, 9 June 2015). Football is a sport that society does not take serious with women. When women play football, today’s society think it is funny, flirty, and cute. For the most part the majority of them are not serious, but at the same time women who are actually very talented at the sport. “Pretty. Strong.” is an Oxygen series about tough women who make up the Chicago Bliss football team. These women are amazingly outstanding at what they do. It is not that women are not capable of doing what men do. It is society whom put limits on women because they think women are weak and incapable so they pay them no attention. If women have proven to be capable of doing the same as men, why is there still a pay gap between men and women? Only a few are aware, but there most certainly is a pay gap between men and women? According to the White House, full-time working women earn 77 percent of what their men partners earn (Eileen Patten, 14 April 2015). It is not fair.
For many years there has been inequality between men and women. Women are generally labeled as weak and incapable; therefore, today’s society puts more effort and support into the work of men. Society favors men in nearly all aspects of life. Whether it is parenthood, playing sports, social events, pay, getting women, seeking a position, relationships, head of the household, politics, morals, or so on, men have the advantage. No matter what the case may be, nine times out of ten, men will get praised for things woman may do and get laughed at even if it is the exact same thing. People will often tell a woman that she cannot do certain things because she is a woman and turn around and tell a man he can do whatever it is because he is a man. People need to open their eyes. All of the research, data, and sources are available. All it takes is one person to discover an issue, define the problem, aware people of the problem, and work towards fixing it. Not only should everyone work together to shatter the glass ceilings women are forced to face that limits them from getting high positions usually given to men but everyone should also do their parts as to not being prejudice against women, nor use stereotype upon women.